


A Surprise Visit

by TheStrangeSeaWolf



Series: The Tinkerer [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adoption, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Encouragement, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Post-Episode: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23016328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStrangeSeaWolf/pseuds/TheStrangeSeaWolf
Summary: The Doctor gets a visit from her father in the Judoon prison. But… is he her father anymore?What a final! The Tinkerer wished his daughter well at the start of this season inOnward and Upward, so it’s only fair that he has some words of encouragement for her now that she's imprisoned, alone and confused.
Relationships: The Doctor (Doctor Who) & Companion(s), The Doctor/River Song (mentioned), Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan & Graham O'Brien & Ryan Sinclair, Twelfth Doctor & Bill Potts (mentioned), Twelfth Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald (mentioned), Twelfth Doctor/Missy (mentioned)
Series: The Tinkerer [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623469
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	A Surprise Visit

„That’s a nice little maximum-security facility you have over here!”

She froze when she heard the voice behind her. She was freezing anyway in the cold cell, in the farthest corner, wrapped up only in her coat. She felt tired, alone and confused, but that voice startled her. Her Dad. No, not her Dad. She didn’t have a father. Or did she have a father? She didn’t know it. According to the Matrix, she had been adopted as a foundling, so, maybe there was a father somewhere, in another universe. But that man who spoke to her now, the man she had found after Clara had nudged her – or her younger self – to search for, was certainly not her father. She slowly got up and looked to the place the voice came from.

On the other side of the grilled window stood the Tinkerer, hair and sideburns still as wild and ginger as ever, grinning just as broadly as ever, now reaching to his flat cap in a greeting gesture.

“Must say, you seem to have a thing for prisons. I’m not sure I can approve of that, daughter!”

He rambled on while she approached the window.

“Tinkerer!” She said in a low voice. “How did you get here? How did you find me?”

“I’m an engineer. I’m on building sites all over the universe and the news that the Doctor was imprisoned spread fast. Thought I come here and see for myself. That the Judoon have some issues with their sewage system on that asteroid sure helped to find out where exactly you are. Thought I’d drop by to see how my daughter is doing!”

“I… there’s probably some things you should know. Things that happened. Things I found out…”

She didn’t know where to start. She was still too confused and shattered to really understand what had happened.

“I heard some of it. You know, a bit here, a bit there, can’t keep things secret in a universe as small as this.” The tall man shrugged.

“So, you already know that you are not my Dad?”

“Well, I do have my memories that tell me that I am your Dad. Then, there is this new story that sounds plausible. But it is from the Matrix. A Matrix hacked by the Master. Seriously, I wouldn’t trust that guy to fix a 20th century calculator from Earth, so I don’t know what happens if he tries to hack a Matrix. And don’t get me started on the reliability of that Matrix. I could tell you stories…”

“But… but what if it is true? What if I am the Timeless Child?”

“What would happen then?”

“I… I don’t know. We are not related, to start with. And it seems there are others like me. Or there were others like me. Or there might even be parallel versions of me. Maybe billions before me. And my people… My people aren’t my people. They are genetically altered to be like me. What does this make me? Their mother? What does that mean for everything I ever was, or thought I was? Doesn’t this change everything? Am I even me anymore? I… I don’t understand anything anymore.”

She let her head sink and stared at her feet.

“Hey! Look at me. I can’t reach you because of the force field but look at me.”

The Tinkerer said softly. She looked up and her eyes met his bright green eyes which looked at her fondly.

“I’m the Tinkerer. I lived for over 3,000 years and there is still a lot I don’t understand. But some things I absolutely know for sure. And one of those things is that you are the Doctor. You _are_ the Doctor, right?”

Well, she had still all her memories about how she chose the name and about all the adventures in time and space, being the Doctor. So, this seemed a valid assumption. She nodded.

“Well, and I happen to know the Doctor. I know the man that came to search his parents together with a wonderful, resourceful, reckless human companion. I knew the man who was devasted when she died.”

“Clara!” she mumbled, and the Tinkerer nodded.

It still hurt. She hoped that she had met her fate as brave as she always had been. Or maybe she was still out there, travelling. Now that the extraction chamber was destroyed, she couldn’t even come back to face her raven. She didn’t want to dwell on the thought what that could mean.

“I saw the same man rise again, facing his fears of a domestic life and of losing someone he loved. He found the courage to give his beautiful, smart, brave wife the 24 happy years together with him she deserved, although he knew how it would end.”

“River,” her hearts clenched. Uploaded in the library computer. So, somehow still there, but also, still gone. She wished to hear her call her ‘Sweetie’ just one more time.

“I saw the same man rise again after the loss, refusing to kill his oldest friend and oldest enemy, instead vowing to cease what he loved most, traveling, to guard her vault. Finding a new purpose in teaching a young, intelligent and capable woman.”

“Bill,” she felt tears of guilt and loss welling up.

“And I saw a man who never gave up the hope to change his oldest enemy and oldest friend. Always hoping she would stand with him, fighting the good fight.”

“Missy,” she whispered. “The Master. Oh, why did I do that? Why didn’t I let her be executed back then? All this wouldn’t have happened!”

She felt how the tears were falling. She didn’t want to let her fath… she didn’t want to let the Tinkerer see her tears, so she quickly turned her back to the window.

“There’s one thing you don’t know, daughter. I know it, because I was part of the crew that rescued that spaceship and found a way to get rid of the Cybermen. We invented a… ah, well, doesn’t matter. But we were able to save quite a lot of settlers and they told me that Missy wanted to stand with you and was killed by the younger Master but killed him in return.”

She nearly couldn’t believe it. So, finally, Missy had wanted to fight by her side? It didn’t change anything regarding the outcome, but it did change something for her. So, her hope had not been in vain. But… if she killed the Master and the Master killed her… who was the new Master?

“And I saw that man regenerate into a brilliant, beautiful, smart, brave, capable woman. And like the man, this woman was the Doctor. This woman is still the Doctor, who despite all the bad things that happened never gives up, never gives in and never ceases to be kind.

This is what defines the Doctor, not who they were or where they came from, but who they are. That they never act cruel or cowardly and if they ever do, they always strive to make amends.

And you know what: I’m proud that my child is the Doctor! I don’t care if there is a biological connection between us. And I don’t care if you are a Time Lord, a Half-Human, a Fruit of the Loom or an alien from another universe. I love you because you are a wonderful, kind and brave soul who always tries her best and always gets up again when she falls.”

She felt the words warm in her hearts.

She turned around.

The large man with the wild hair and the flat cap smiled broadly at her, his green eyes twinkling with compassion and deep affection.

He still thought of her as his daughter, no matter what would happen.

She felt still confused.

But she didn’t feel so tired anymore.

She also felt how slowly, gently something crept back into her hearts…

_Hope_

She stepped closer to the window.

“Do you know a way out of this… Daddy?”

“Sorry, I’m just an engineer, not a hero, daughter. Sam is distracting the Judoon right at this moment with a bureaucratic nightmare of planning permissions for a new sewage system on an asteroid so I could come down here undisturbed, but I won’t be able to free you.”

She felt her newly won hope sink again.

“Ah, come on, you are not dumb, daughter! You know what will happen!”

He laughed with his hands on his hips. She was confused. What did he mean?

“Come on, you know it! What has always saved you? From monsters but more important from yourself? From feeling too smart? But also, from doubting yourself too much? Always?”

Oh yes, suddenly she knew what he meant. Starting with Susan, they all appeared in her mind, everyone unique, everyone close to her hearts, everyone a wonderful companion who had been part of her life.

“You can see them, right? You do have friends throughout the universe, and you know that, daughter. You see the last ones? Ryan, Graham, Yaz? You even called them “fam”. It never mattered that they are not your biological family, right? Didn’t they come and search for you in the most terrifying place you can think of? In your deepest, darkest hour?”

The ruins of Gallifrey. Her hearts clenched again, thinking about the terrible events.

“They did care about you then; they will care about you now. So will all the other friends you have out there in the universe. And I will do everything I can to help them. But there is one thing that is even more important….”

She looked at him confused, not knowing what he was up to.

“That you stop pitying yourself and start thinking of a plan. Come on, this is by far not the first time you were imprisoned. It’s nearly like a hobby for you! Up your arse, Doctor! Think of a clever thing. Think of multiple clever things until you find the one that works. And don’t be afraid. Never be afraid. You got this!”

Of course. She felt the old strength and the will to never give up come back again. She could do this. Of course, she could do this. She always found her way.

“I will. Promise!”

She smiled.

“That’s my clever girl!”

Her father grinned.

“Now I better go, see how Sam’s doing. Sure, they have eight arms and a sense for confusing their enemies with bureaucratic technobabble, but I don’t want to leave them in a Judoon headquarter alone for too long. They might sell them a security system for this prison along with the new sewage system and I can tell you one thing: you wouldn’t be able to break free from this if I planned it.”

He let out a short laughter, put two fingers to his flat cap as a goodbye gesture and suddenly disappeared from the window.

She didn’t know how he did that, but she knew one thing: Her father believed in her and he didn’t care about her origins. So, she probably should stop worrying about that, too, and start working on an escape plan.

She noticed she grinned just as broadly as her father when she started to examine her surroundings closer.

**Author's Note:**

> Like the Tinkerer, I don't care what the new development means for the canon, I just love Doctor Who and hope it stays on TV and inspires people to create their own fanart and fanfics based on it, may they be canon compliant or not. Stay civil towards other fans with other opinions. They have the same right to like or dislike you have.
> 
> Oh, and while you are here, stream ["If I Could Pray"](https://open.spotify.com/album/5K1AYBlOydkaN4xyumAgXl?highlight=spotify:track:7eSlRAAeg6ICWnzAnTaUeK) by Monks Road Social, featuring Peter Capaldi while you are at it, it's a great song.


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